If you buy something through our links, ToolGuyd might earn an affiliate commission.

Dewalt has added a cordless heat gun to their 20V Max cordless power tool system.

The new Dewalt cordless heat gun, DCE530, features a guarded nozzle, two temperature settings, and a lock-on button for hands-free operation if needed.

Advertisement

Details are a little sparse at the moment, but here’s what we know so far.

The Dewalt cordless heat gun looks to be operated by squeezing the trigger, with what appears to be a small safety interlock switch that could prevent unintentional operation during transport. There’s a lock-on button, and on top is the temperature selection switch.

You would be forgiven for mistaking the new Dewalt DCE530 heat gun for a cordless drill at first glance. Design-wise, it looks like a cordless drill, with respect to the overall appearance, but the switches and controls are also in all the right places where a drill’s switches are located.

*We asked Dewalt for official temperature setting and heat-up time specs, but they couldn’t provide us with this information yet. One of the product pages says the max temperature is 990°F, as measured after 340 seconds on high and 0.4 mm away from the nozzle, but also mentions a max temperature of 875°F. This would suggest a max temperature of 875°F, but that higher temperatures are still achievable. We don’t yet know what the low temperature setting is.

The curved reflector nozzle is typically used on pipes, heatshrink tubing, and similar-shaped materials, and the spreader is used to provide even heat over a wider area.

Price $119 for the bare tool (DCE530B), $199 for the kit (DCE530P1)ETA: July 2019

The kit comes with a DCB115 charger, (1) 5.0Ah battery, and a carrying bag.

First Impressions

I just picked up a Werner heat gun, and if this had been available, I would have given it a serious look. Granted it would be double the cost, but being cordless this makes the tool much more practical. The integrated LED lights are an expected feature on a drill and I’ve not seen them on any heat guns that I’ve looked at.

The max temperature of 990°F might be limiting, as most of the tools I’ve looked at are rated to +1300°F.

What might you want a cordless heat gun for? Would the new Dewalt tool check all your boxes?

Compared with Milwaukee

When Milwaukee’s M18 heat gun was first announced, they said it would deliver a max temperature of 1000°F. Later, its maximum temperature was specified as 875°F in press materials. In tests, Benjamen wasn’t quite seeing these temperatures.

This could also explain the two temperatures in the Dewalt cordless heat gun product pages. While the Dewalt is said to have a max temperature output of 990°F, to get that measurement requires 340 seconds of heating duration at high, and is measured very close to the nozzle (0.4 mm is ~1/64″). The 875°F spec that’s also mentioned in the spec sheet, assuming it’s correct, might be closer to the operating temperature, or maybe an “operating temperature under ideal conditions” specification.

From what we can tell so far, the new Dewalt cordless heat gun looks to be well-matched with Milwaukee’s. It is similarly featured, except for the absence of a ladder hook.

Price-wise, the new Dewalt cordless heat gun is less expensive, at $119 for the bare tool and $199 for the 5.0Ah kit. The Milwaukee M18 bare tool is $129 ($120 at Home Depot), and the kit is $299.

About Ben V

Ben Vincent started his love for creating things at an early age, crediting Lego with its endless possibilities as his inspiration. Despite a failed attempt to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he eventually found a career in Software Engineering, and now has 58 worldwide patents to his name! As a very keen amateur he shares his passion for creating on Instagram and now on ToolGuyd!

Someone emailed in, complaining about the timing of the router. I asked Dewalt about it, and they reminded me that the original ETA was for Spring 2019, and mid-April was smack in the middle of Spring.

It turned out that it was the retailer who had published a mid-February ETA, but that was wrong.

The reader had preordered in November, and in mid-Feb received an email about the order availability being pushed to April, but that was within line of the original ETA.

Sometimes there ARE delays, and different things can cause it. When tools are announced several months ahead of time, things can change along the way that affect production. Maybe a sourced part doesn’t meet specs, maybe there’s a delay in production, maybe a different tool is prioritized, maybe testing is delayed, or any number of other reasons. When an announcement precedes availability, the wider the time gap, the more things can happen.

The alternative is for tools to be announced just as they’re ready to ship, but personally I don’t like that. I’d rather know what’s coming, as it helps with my purchasing decisions.

ALSO, something to keep in mind is that the heat gun has not been officially announced yet. As such, that July 31st, 2019 ETA is the retailer’s ETA. The “real” ETA might have changed.

I should also mention that things are similar in other industries. There was a particular photo light I was a little interested in. It was shown off at a trade show in the Spring one year. And then, it was highlighted the next year’s trade show too. Another year later, and the “coming soon” page on their website went down and the project was officially cancelled.

Some tools are also delayed due to supply and demand. If a retailer has a 4-month preorder window and receives orders for 5x the number of tools they receive in the first shipment, that ETA is going to be pushed back even though the tool has started shipping out.

I try not to remind people of “first in, first to receive” practice that happens with preorders, because it could seem too self-serving given the commission-generating affiliate link nature of most of our retailer links, but that’s how it is. If a tool launches, and there’s still a backorder, you’re still going to be at the back of that preorder line. Sometimes demand is lower or supplies are higher, but some tools are going to be higher in demand or lower in supply.

It’s a waiting game.

Dewalt was unable to provide official specs when we inquired, and so they’re actually trying to avoid customer disappointment. They didn’t actually give any ETA yet…

As much as we consider public product pages and sell sheets as official information, it’s not official until it’s straight from the horse’s mouth.

Two things I like about the DeWalt is the lock on feature and including the nozzle adaptors with the gun. I am somewhat disappointed with the performance of the Milwaukee it just is so weak that to be effective you have to hold it super close to the item you were working with and when you install the adaptors it was even worse. It did the job but not very effectively – meaning it took much longer than I would have expected and without the lock on feature of the DeWalt it was cumbersome at times. I think DeWalt made some good choices on the features of their heat gun, good on them.

Higher performing heat guns (that are in the same league as corded) will have to wait until the next generations of battery technology. But? These Dewalt (and Milwaukee’s) would still be highly useful in many tasks I face every day. (Drying architectural finishes,generating samples quickly on site, and shortening lay up time with veneer work.) As far as my use, these mean a big step forward in portability “of kit” and a huge convenience.

buying a heat gun and it not having the curved deflector is just useless. Unless they expect you already have their corded product. Which leads to me the question – do the corded heatgun attachments work on this one. I assume they do but you know how that goes.

I don’t have a corded one – so I would be buying the cordless one expected to have those 2 at a minimum.

will be interesting to see how the tests line up. There is only so much power in the battery to start with. SO it might be a case where the device works the best with the _______ battery.

The Werner I purchased has a cool down feature that I would was pretty clever. It ran the fan for ~2 minutes after I had finished using it. I am pretty certain that won’t make sense with a cordless version like this.

I think there’s so many dumb paddle switches now because of what just happened to our BRAND NEW Dewalt 120v slide switch grinder, after just a few days of heavy use. Poltergeist.
Thorough cleaning only “fixed” it some of the time (It has a 50/50 chance of turning on when you plug it in, and no, there’s no debris interfering with the switch)
It does make life more exciting though.

This is a useful addition to Dewalt’s lineup. Since I already own a corded heat gun and use a torch when I don’t want to bother with running an extension cord, I don’t personally feel the need to rush out and buy it – but I probably would spend the extra money if I was shopping for a heat gun right now. Going cordless is just too advantageous. Even though I don’t need it, I might even pick it up eventually if there’s a sale to entice me.

My M18 heat gun is one of my most used tools. I use it for way more things than I could have ever imagined. But I did have to buy the nozzle attachments separately and 2 heat settings and a lock-on button (my rubber band works but ain’t pretty) sure would be nice.

Agreed. Also had to buy the Milwaukee “accessory” set. Bunch of hooie.
We use it exclusively for heat shrink and it’s easier then my corded guns but, obviously, is neither as fast to heat nor as hot. And the LED light would be a nice improvement.
But her emails. No no no. But it’s cordless!!
So here we are. Yet another battery. Or 3.

Pre ordered mine this morning. I’m most curious about the run time claim of 42 minutes. I just perused acme’s page before buying it, and didn’t find the fine print indicated after the run time, but that’s significantly higher than what I’ve read Milwaukee and Ryobi claim. Perhaps it’s with a 12ah battery, or some nonsense. Either way, I want it and I bought it lol Hope it arrives this year, but I’ve still got my trusty corded DeWalt that’ll do 1100°f and the LCD screen. That thing will never die, but I can’t pass up on a smaller, cordless option.

I can certainly do that, though I’ll need to set myself a reminder lol I was pretty confident when I payed the preorder, that this would probably end up as an awesome surprise gift to my future self, as I’m sure to forget that I even purchased it after a month or two.

I don’t think we need a cordless hair dryer, the aim with having cordless tools is to have less wire at work site which can cause accidents, also not having extension wires everywhere in an uncompleted building, having more safer tools, not wasting time and money for temporary wiring at work site, and to do more accurate job as wire can distract our attention and we should not forget that we use tools to built houses or any other type of properties which would have proper and safe sockets where is needed, if we want to make hair dryer cordless, tomorrow TV, then washing machine and etc then we should sit and discuss if we really need to do wiring in our houses at all in near future. Battery sector is a bit problematic, as much as I have read and I know they need some specific rare elements for batteries which are not available in every country, and I think China is a main source of those elements, and Western countries are a bit limited in developing and producing cordless technology and products mainly.

I have a bunch of milwaukee tools (but not the heat gun).
I also have a couple of flexvolt tools and batteries (I wonder if the performance is affected by the bigger batteries?).
I just don’t know if I would buy either for a serious job considering ridgid looks to have done it right.

Newsletter

Recent Comments

fred on The Best Hook and Pick Set?: “Moody also make spring hooks and sets: https://www.amazon.com/Threaded-Spring-Tool-Kit-Light/dp/B0026GI62A/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=B0026GI62A&qid=1558784803&s=industrial&sr=1-1”